


In the Still of the Night

by dayishujia



Series: Sheith Tumblr Prompts [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Shiro thinking about Keith, Shiro thinking about how much Keith means to him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 02:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7556944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayishujia/pseuds/dayishujia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Shiro’s favorite moments was the dead of the Castle’s simulated night when everything was calm and still, especially Keith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Still of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> For a lovely anon at Tumblr

One of Shiro’s favorite moments was the dead of the Castle’s simulated night when everything was calm and still, especially Keith.

When he was awake, Keith was animated, argumentative, and full of energy. He was always going, always doing. He never really took a moment to just sit and enjoy, unless it was at a meal and even then he ate with a purpose. 

But asleep, Keith was peaceful. He didn’t really stir unless Shiro did and then it was only to snuggle closer to him. He was a rather heavy-sleeper, once asleep, Keith was usually out for the next eight hours. 

Shiro shifted, adjusting himself so he sat more comfortably against the headboard. Keith had fallen asleep hours ago and so had Shiro – but his sleeping schedule never really fixed itself after his time spent as a Galra prisoner. 

Keith shifted in his sleep, cuddling closer to Shiro and throwing an arm across Shiro’s waist. Shiro smiled at the top of his head and thread his fingers through Keith’s sleep-mussed hair with one hand as the other moved to rest over the wrist that sat on his belly.

When he was asleep, Keith looked utterly innocent; incapable of facing the atrocities they fought against nearly every day with the amount of strength he did. He looked so young, so fragile, just like the kid he was at the Garrison. 

Shiro knew he was no longer the boy he met and fell in love with at the Garrison. 

None of them were the same people they were at the Garrison. 

Shiro absently wished he could protect Keith from the things they saw everyday. He wanted Keith to remain a bright-faced teenager as long as he could. He didn’t want to see that light die.

If Keith knew those thoughts, Shiro knew how he’d react: probably with a fit. Keith would exclaim that he didn’t need protecting; he’d say that, in comparison to what Shiro experienced that year he’d gone missing, everything else was child’s play. Keith would say that Shiro needed to focus on Shiro, on making sure he was okay before worrying about anyone else, least of all Keith. 

Because Shiro wasn’t that much older than the rest of them and he absolutely was not required to fight everyone else’s battles.

But Shiro couldn’t help it. He would always worry about Keith.

Keith – who was a headstrong kid, punching his way though life even when he didn’t have to. Keith – who over-estimated himself and under-estimated his foe. Keith – who hates himself but loves Shiro. 

He knows Keith thinks he’s good at hiding his thoughts, that he thinks that the brave front he puts on in front of the other paladins and Allura and Coran was enough to hide himself from them. But Shiro learned how to read him long ago, when he was just a pasty-faced freshman at the Garrison who punched a kid for some snide remark.

Keith was on cleaning duty for two weeks for that. And, although Shiro had other things to do, he helped. Shiro cleaned the chalkboards as Keith wiped down desks. Shiro washed the windows as Keith swept up all the sand from the floor. For their imminent friendship, those were two very important weeks. He learned a lot about Keith in those two weeks.

After that, Keith followed him about. Everywhere he went, Keith went too if he could. It was terribly cute, Shiro had thought. 

And then weeks turned to months and months to years and somewhere in that time, Shiro fell in love.

Shiro never said anything to Keith about it, of course. He rather liked the status quo, as it were, and he wasn’t going to risk it by simultaneously outing himself and confessing his crush.

He had time, he thought. There would be plenty of time and they could take it slow, should it happen at all. 

And then he accepted the piloting position for the Kerberos Mission and suddenly, there was no more time. 

Shiro shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He didn’t want to remember anything about the Kerberos Mission or the Galra right then. He moved his hand from Keith’s hair and settled it along his back.

For the moment, they were safe. Keith was there and safe, sleeping in his bed and cuddled up against him. Shiro would take on the entire Galra Empire by himself if it meant he got to stay there with Keith a little longer. 

He loved Keith.

He loved the way Keith looked in the morning, when he just woke up and sleep was still in his eyes. He loved the way Keith smiled at him, the special smile he had just for him. He loved the way Keith’s eyes always met his, even when they were in the middle of something with the others. He loved the way Keith snuck into his room at night when everyone else were fast asleep. 

And most of all, he loved the way Keith loved him. Because Keith did love him. He told him so when he woke up in that dusty old shack. 

Keith nearly leapt on him when he saw Shiro shifting. And then he said it, so low that Shiro almost missed it – but, even if he did miss it, the messy kiss Keith planted on his mouth immediately after clued him in pretty quickly. 

Shiro smiled at the memory of it, when things were simple for just a moment. Then he recalled the feeling of the kisses they shared but hours before. He found himself blushing despite himself. He looked at Keith’s sleeping face and rubbed the pad of his thumb over his cheek. Keith stirred a little but settled against him, making Shiro smile wider. 

“Love you, baby.”

**Author's Note:**

> [find me on tumblr](http://lilmissginge.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [prompt me](http://lilmissginge.tumblr.com/ask)


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